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Legal Momentum Blog

Legal Momentum Blog

Welcome to Legal Momentum's Blog.
We write about stories and issues that relate to our mission.
Our Intern Team also posts about issues important to them, offering discussion and insight regarding women's equality and opportunity.

On February 6, 2014, the Department of Justice announced the first three tribes approved to implement special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction under the Violence Against Women Act of 2013. The three tribes are: the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and the Tulalip Tribe. Under the VAWA Pilot Project, these three tribes will be able to exercise criminal jurisdiction over certain crimes of domestic violence and dating violence, regardless of the defendant's Indian or non-Indian status.

2014 marks the 20th anniversary of the historic passage of the watershed Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)—the first comprehensive federal legislative package designed to end violence against women—which was signed into law in September, 1994 as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.

Virginia State Senator Richard “Dick” Black’s views concerning spousal rape have been in the media spotlight recently, as he runs for Virginia’s 13th district seat in the House of Representatives.

In 2002, Black was quoted espousing a whole host of myths about sexual assault, saying:

“I do not know how on Earth you could validly get a conviction of a husband-wife rape where they’re living together, sleeping in the same bed, she’s in a nightie and so forth, there’s no injury, there’s no separation or anything.”

In a development reminiscent of the well-known schoolyard taunt, the U.S. Marines are seeking to eliminate the so-called “girl pull-up” from the fitness tests they have been using for new female recruits. Under the old standard, formally known as the “flexed arm hang,” female recruits were required to hold their chins above the pull-up bar for at least 15 seconds. Under the new standard, implementation of which is presently delayed, they must do at least three pull-ups in order to pass the Marines’ basic fitness test.

At the time of the 50th anniversary of the "War on Poverty" famously declared by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a new report released by The Shriver Report, A Woman's Nation Pushes Back from the Brink, is bringing media attention to the issues of women and poverty that Legal Momentum has long championed.

Legal Momentum announces that Elizabeth Grayer has decided to step down as President in order to pursue another opportunity. Her term ended on December 31, 2013, but Elizabeth has graciously agreed to act as a consultant to Legal Momentum until a new President is identified. The board has asked Lynn Hecht Schafran, Senior Vice President and Director of Legal Momentum's National Judicial Education Program, to assume the role of Acting President.